I'm honored to guest post in Joseph Pistrui's blog, Nextsensing. Joseph is a colleague in the IE-Brown E-MBA program, a devout Detroit Tiger's fan and a serial entrepreneur as well as professor. Thank you, Joseph!
It seems I’m spending more and more time in high school these days. No, not my kids’ school, the business
21 - Sheesh! by Jess Esch world. Perhaps the economy has increased insecurity, doubt and lack of trust in business; perhaps adolescence’s creeping into the 30’s is why its taking longer to grow up and be professional; or perhaps we’re so politically correct, or conflict avoiding, that we are sacrificing accountability and productivity for fear of offending.
There are times I feel so “old-school” with my kids’ friends and and in the corporate world. I see behavior that wasn’t tolerated in ‘my day’ and I’d never tolerate…from my kids let alone colleagues, including the C-suite. The Harvard Business Review even ran an article “Rudeness at Work: What’s Your Story?” What the heck is going on? Are permissiveness and indulgence endemic everywhere?
Increasingly, the virtue I see that is most needed, aside from Courage, is Temperance. I love that word. It comes from Greek sophrosyne (moderation), which Cicero translated into the Latin temperantia. By the mid-14th C, it evolved from the Anglo-French temperaunce to mean “self-restraint, self-control, moderation.”[*] I think we need a heavy heavy dose of Temperance today – in any business, be it for/not-for profit, ‘social’, entrepreneurial, etc. We need to balance protecting wealth with creating wealth, efficiency with effectiveness, and yes, compassion with responsibility.
Many workplaces are enclaves of aiding and abetting immature, disrespectful, even harmful behavior. People end up spending more time working around or with these people instead of doing the jobs at hand. Physical and emotional energy is sapped; time is spent in the weeds providing unnecessary levels of detail and hand-holding because people want to be told exactly what to do instead of taking the initiative; and employees are not asked to step up their game, limiting their professional growth and burdening the entire organization culturally and productively. Trust declines, morale declines, and the company’s ability to attract and retain talent erodes.
What is the outcome? Increasing risk in delighting the customer. Plain and simple. At the end of the day, that’s what matters, because otherwise there is no business. While it may be ‘easier’ in the short term to aid and abet, it will destroy your organization in the long term. At some point, it’s very difficult to prevent this behavior from affecting your customers in some shape or form. And let’s face it, we’re not helping anyone by avoiding the issue…we’re kicking the can down the road.
So, please think about how you can apply Temperance in 2013. Apply to yourself first, your team, and your organization. As the leader, you set the tone. This may not be easy, but it is so important to create and sustain a culture that continually delights it customers…because of it’s people, it’s culture.
A special Thank You to my friend, Jess Esch, for letting me use her fabulous sketches in my posts!
[*] temperance. (n.d.). Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved December 11, 2012, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/temperance
Sitting behind me at BIF-6 last September was a nice, unassuming guy. We struck up a conversation. As a result, a wonderful friendship developed (which is easy to do at BIF).
This guy was Michael Lee Stallard. Three years ago, Michael wrote a very important book underscoring this very point, Fired Up or Burned Out. It was inspired from his own career experiences on Wall Street and Texas Instruments.
Michael’s point is that companies need to help their people achieve their potential if the company is to grow. The way to do this, while most call it ‘engagement,’ is by really truly connecting with your people and getting them to connect with each other. It’s not the formality of cross-functional meetings; it’s the depth of understanding and really connecting at a personal, even one-to-one level with your people.
Many companies go through various routines, some genuine, some perfunctory, to connect – town hall meetings, newsletters, videos, intranet discussion groups, picnics, etc. These are important ways to share information and help employees feel included.
But if there isn’t a real personal connection at some level, in some way, they can easily ring a bit hollow. This can be very threatening and confusing – it means making yourself vulnerable to those who work for you – but perhaps you really work for them!
In Michael’s book you learn how to start “connecting” with examples of how others have done it right, and wrong. He provides questions to ask yourself and others to get a feel for where you are and a roadmap for creating real genuine connections in your organization…ones that can make a big difference.
Interestingly, three years later, we are seeing this theme gaining traction and recognition. At the 2nd Annual Open InnovationSummit in Chicago, connections – relationships – trust was key to success. At BIF-6, connections – relationships – trust was key to success (Saul Kaplan uses the term “connected adjacencies”).
Steve Denning’s new book, Radical Management, stresses the importance of connections – relationships – trust. So does JohnHagel III, John Seely Brown and Lang Davison in the Power of Pull.
In my professional life, it is the connections – relationships – trust that have gotten me to where I am (which is a good place) more than the achievements (patents, papers, etc.). I had tremendous mentors at Bell Labs and AT&T, great clients who challenge me and wonderful colleagues who stretch and teach me.
This holds true in my personal life as well, with incredible parents, family and friends. The adage – it is all in who you know is really about how you know them as well. Read Michael’s book – it’s very worthwhile and worthy of your time. It can make a big difference for you personally and professionally…in fact, read it with your people!
Deb is here to reveal to organizations their beginner's mind while giving them the tools to execute.
